22/01/2019
Thursday's car crash involving Prince Phillip has led to an awful lot of unpleasant reactions from some people. There appears to be a desire to blame the Queen's 97 year old husband, without any interest in waiting for confirmation as to how and why the accident happened.
There is also a lot of, frankly stupid, comments about the things that have happened since:
The fact that a replacement Land Rover Freelander was delivered to the Sandringham Estate so quickly after the crash seems to have caused some upset. The reaction is somewhat ridiculous, given that anyone with comprehensive, quality car insurance would expect a loan car to be available almost immediately after such an incident. In this case, it is not yet clear (to me at least) whether the vehicle that was delivered was another Freelander that was already owned by the Royal Family, or whether perhaps it had been sourced from a local JLR dealership. Whatever the case, it is pretty irrelevant. Getting a replacement car is something that I would expect within 24 hours, if my car were to be left unroadworthy due to an accident. Why on earth does anyone believe it should be slower for a member of Britain's royalty?
Prince Phillip was misguided for driving his replacement car on public roads without his seatbelt. I do not think he is necessarily more so, just because it has been photographed just days after the accident. It may of course be that the experience of struggling with his seat belt after the accident has caused some reluctance to belt up again. However, what is completely ridiculous, is to suggest that the Duke of Edinburgh's failure to wear his seat belt was "highly insensitive", as has been stated by the passenger from the other vehicle involved in the crash.
The calls for Prince Phillip to be fined or banned from driving are clearly premature. Accidents happen. There are thousands of road traffic accidents (RTAs) in the UK every week, this is just one of them. The statistics will, it would appear, document the two female casualties as two of the expected 160,000 people who will suffer 'slight' injuries in RTAs during the course of a year. So calls for his prosecution, prior to an investigation, would tend to indicate people are showing prejudice against the Prince. People should back off and let the police do their job.
Similarly, calls for his prosecution for not wearing a seat belt show a lack of understanding of how the police work and also evidence discrimination. The Prince was not caught by the police driving without his seat belt. Someone photographed him and shared the picture. I doubt there have been many (or any) prosecutions for failure to wear a seat belt, which have been achieved as a result of a photograph taken by a passer by. Indeed, whilst I recall posts mocking the motoring journalist James May for being caught on camera using a hand held mobile phone (a far more serious offence), I do not believe any action was taken by the police.
Moreover, we don't have any context in respect of this photo. Where was it taken? What speed was the Prince driving at? Was he involved in a manoeuvre that included reversing, which is specifically covered by an exclusion to the law?
People will, I hope, calm down. The police will conclude their investigation and, if appropriate, the outcome will be published. Until then, we should move on and stop speculating.
Prince Phillip is not the only person in this country to have been driving at such an age. There have been plenty of elderly UK residents who have clung onto their driving licences beyond what might ordinarily might be considered a 'safe' age for driving. If he is found to have been at fault and if the findings suggest he is no longer competent to drive, steps should be taken to stop him from continuing to drive. His treatment in this regard should not be more aggressive than for 'ordinary' people.
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